Palette
by Aissu
Summary: Because death, whether predicted or not, brings about the same grief- Grief that leaves one capable of anything.


**Coincidentally, it's been exactly a year since I last updated my ongoing fanfiction (I promise, _really really promise _to resume work on it after the next week). Time really flies. And it so happens it's once again the exam period and I felt strangely compelled to write something. What depresses me is that there's virtually no plot in this story- I think I just wanted to explore how depressed the characters are after Tsuna's death (in the future arc), mainly Lambo and a little Gokudera because these two share a precious relationship. **

* * *

The disconcerting silence permeated the mist. Lambo whirled around, the errant thumping of his head pounding loudly in his ears. He stepped forward—something squelched under his foot. The thirteen year-old looked down, his stomach turning as he took in the sight of the dead man, his face marred beyond recognition. With a terrified yelp, he took off blindly through the mist, stumbling into a broad back.

He winced and stepped back, expecting retaliation but all he was met with was deafening quiet, and a shaky sob. Olive-hued irises widened. The Guardians, huddled around something, no, _someone_…

Dark hazel hair – smudged with blood. Body battered, bruised, decorated with bullets that dripped crimson. An almost serene smile.

The word imploded.

* * *

Lambo leaned against the wall of his room, sinking to his knees. Shifting on the bed for hours had left him convinced that he wasn't going to get sleep once again, that night.

He looked outside his window. The glow of the moon illuminated the silver gates of the Vongola mansion. With a sigh, he closed one eye, and buried his face in his arms.

"Tsuna-nii…"

It had been two years. Two years and in his mind, the very image of Tsuna in death had never left him. It plagued him in nightmares – taunting, cruel. He would visit Tsuna's room on occasion, forgetting that there was no longer the presence that brought warmth to him, the comforting figure of the man who would envelop him in a hug without a single word, and would let the sobs rack through his body. The one who would save him from the fury of the silver-haired Storm Guardian, and the one who had offered him his favourite grape candy with a gentle smile, was gone.

_Dead_.

It was still surreal. He half-expected Tsuna to return with that bright smile of his, cloak swishing about his lithe figure.

They had left Tsuna's coffin out in the open, in an area of the forest near the Vongola mansion, surrounded by a field of flowers. Anyone who disagreed to the decision had been subject to facing Hibari Kyouya's tonfas (of all people).

Spurred on by an indescribable sentiment, the fifteen-year-old stood up and padded silently out of his room, and out of the mansion. Unfazed by the darkness, he headed objectively towards the black coffin in the forest, the Vongola crest engraved on it. He felt his throat burn, the closer he got. Twice, Gokudera had tried to kill himself.

It terrified the young boy. He had no desire to lose anyone else.

Lambo came to a stop. His eyes rested on the pitch-black coffin, surrounded by a rainbow of colours that were darkened by the night. He sat against it, hesitantly resting his head against its cooling surface. He shivered as a breeze blew through the forest.

In death, Tsuna had taken with him many things.

Their smiles.

A strangled sob escaped the boy as hot tears leaked from his eyes. The shudders racked through his body.

Regret.

_Why couldn't I have done more? Why? Why? Why? Why?_

So much uncertainty.

And above all complex, aching questions, more than anything—

Lambo _missed_ Tsuna.

So, so much.

"I never got to thank you, Tsuna-nii. For giving me something so important… Our dysfunctional family."

A small, heart-wrenching laugh, although it could have been mistaken for a strangled sob.

Heart laden with emotions, he felt his eyelids growing heavy. Lambo could have sworn he heard a gentle whisper in his ear then. Faint, yet so familiar…

* * *

When Gokudera found Lambo, deep in slumber on the coffin the later in the morning, he ruffled the bratty child's hair fondly. He remembered the time the child had found him, strangling himself with the amber scarf that Tsuna had given him. He should have died but the weight of leaving everything behind had struck him then, upon seeing the distress on Lambo's face.

It would take time—

He picked the boy up.

— But he would take it upon himself to string the broken pieces that Tsuna had left, into one again. It was his duty as Tsuna's right man, his _friend_.

He had stumbled across an album that Tsuna brought along with him to Italy. Memories of the times they had goofed around, when they had not yet completely lost their innocence in the reality that was the mafia. Memories of when Tsuna had saved all of them, with his patience and sincerity (almost naïve).

Tsuna would have wanted everyone to be happy. Even after his death.

Lifting his head, the silveret took one last glance at the coffin, bathed in the sun's rays, and strode out of the forest with the sleeping Lighting Guardian.

* * *

**Review are much appreciated (it was short, yes ; u ; but I think it was better off short) Once again, I promise more updates for Dare Box after exams (but I'm stuck at one point in a chapter, it's like I lost all my non-existent creativity and whatever faint humour was there). **


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